1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an event driven transceiver and, more particularly, to an event recorder carried in a vehicle for transmitting electronic signature data or “fingerprints” and receiving and recording electronic signature data from like equipped vehicles or roadside stations upon the occurrence of an event, such as, for example, an accidental collision or a traffic violation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, law enforcement agencies in certain jurisdictions have resorted to automated surveillance techniques as a method for catching drivers that violate traffic laws. The most notable form of automated surveillance involves placing a traffic camera on a stretch of highway or at stop light intersections aimed to capture an image of a vehicle's licence plate. The camera shutter is tripped when a vehicle speeds or runs a yellow or red light. The image is stamped with the time, date, speed of the vehicle obtained from radar, and the status of the traffic light if applicable. The image is then mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle along with a traffic citation. This type of automated surveillance system is passive in that it is essentially just a replacement for a police officer staked out at the scene. However, the offending vehicle provides no information or “signature” other than a picture and its licence plate number. Further, it is obviously impractical to provide this type of surveillance system at every intersection-or along every stretch of roadway or parking lot.
The above described surveillance system really has no practical application for say, recording the events of a hit and run accident, unless of course the offence occurs at a monitored point. Moreover, a vehicle involved in an accident does not purposely leave any signature of its involvement in the accident. The result is that hit and run accidents occur frequently, particularly in parking lots, where there is no driver in the parked car. Unless there is a witness to the accident willing to speak up or the driver of the offending vehicle leaves a note, there is no accountability for such an accident.
Similarly, many surveillance tasks such as monitoring the weight of trucks or identifying hazardous materials (HAZMATS) carried in the truck prior to entering tunnels or bridges are very intrusive and require that the truck be stopped periodically at highway weigh stations and physically inspected. This is a very time consuming task for law enforcement officers as well as an inconvenience for the drivers.
Therefore what is needed in the art is the ability to automatically verify that a vehicle took part in a specific event apart from an eyewitness as well as a method for authorities to monitor potentially hazardous vehicles on the highways.